Mail-delivery box.



PATENTED NOV. 13, I906. T. B. GRAY.

MAIL DELIVERY BOX.

APPLIUATION FILED FEB: 21. 1906.

auoewfor Tiromws'lfiukh Gray 1x 1 rue/mes THOMAS BUSH GR Y, OF SILVERLAKE, KANSAS.

MAIL-DELIVERY BQX.

To all IU/IZOHL it nuty concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS BUSH GRAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Silverlake, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have invented certain new Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 21, 1906.

Patented Nov. 13, 1906. Serial No. 302.254.

the flange, by means of which the entire device is secured to the post or proper support. It will be noted that the curved inner surface formed by the rim 9 and the skirt 4 con- 7 stitutes what may be graphically termed a and useful Improvements in Mail-Delivery runway, or channel, or groove, or

Boxes, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My present invention relates to improve ments in mail-delivery boxes, and is especially designed to overcome the objections to the mail-delivery box invented by me and shown and described in my United States Patent No. 754,441, issued March 15, 1904, the said box being for the same purpose to be used in connection with rural delivery and so constructed as to be easily inserted in place "and removed without the necessary registering of the latch with a certain portion of the rim of the cover. To attain these objects, I simplify the construction of the box as set forth in my former patent and producea much more durable and quickly-operated device.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the device in the position it assumes when in use. Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view thereof. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the scoop, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the securingrim removed from the cover or shield.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the cover or shield, which is preferably of a conical or acorn shape in elevation, whereby snow or hail, &c., falling there on will by gravity be shed therefrom, and being provided at the top with the conical cap 2, having pivotally mounted therein the indicating device or leaf 3, this indicating device having the name of the party to whom the mail is to be delivered stamped thereon and also acting as an indicator to advise the party whether or not there is any mail with in the receptacle. Secured by rivets or other well-known means to the lower open end of the shield or cover is a band, rim, or skirt 4, which consists of the upwardly-projecting band v5, containing the openings 6 for the reception of the rivets 7 and terminating in the outwardly and downwardly projecting portion or skirt 8 and the inwardly-bent flange or latch rim 9, a securing plate or support 10 being carried by the under surface of Secured to this curved portion is the straight and curved terminal 15 of the handle 16,

which has formed integral therewith the latch 17, which is given a spring tension by means of the inwardly-bent terminal or spring 18, the end of which is connected to the body of the receptacle and alines with the vertical depression or recess 19, formed in the wall of the mail-receptacle, the bottom of which depression or recess lies in one unbroken plane, so that the arm of spring 18 when the scoop is inserted in the shell and the spring thereby compressed will lie flatly against the bottom of the recess, closing all space between the spring-arm and the bottom of the recess. By this means the curved portion of the handle may be compressed so that the flat spring-terminal will fit snugly within the recess and allow the mail-receptacle to be inserted into or withdrawn from the cover or shield without the latch interfering with the movement, the latch being adapted after the receptacle has been inserted within the shield to be released and rest upon the upper interior edge of the locking-flange of the band or rim, thus holdin the mail-receptacle within the cover or sIiield without the necessity of requiring the latch to register with an opening or predetermined point, as in my former patent. In this way a great deal of time is saved in withdrawing and inserting the mail-receptacle within the cover or shield, as it is simply necessary in removing to depress or compress the handle and withdraw the receptacle, while in inserting 1t is simply necessary to push the receptacle home until the latch engages the locking-rim.

The longitudinal groove or channel 19, formed as above described, is Very important, as it forms a pocket for the reception of the strip 18, so that the exterior surface of the strip lies in the same plane as the exterior 1 surface of the scoop 11, and binding or wedging of the strip and the scoop against the walls of the shield is thus prevented and absolutely free movement insured. Necessa rily the scoop is advantageously designed of a size snugly to fit within the shield 1,-be cause if it were otherwise constructed any slight jar to the handle 16 or to the shield 1, as by wind or the like, would. rock the scoop within the shield, and, as would be obvious,

tilting rearward or backward of the scoop within the shield would bring the catch or latch 17 forward, disengaging the same from What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a mail-box, the combination with an open-bottomed shield or shell formed with a circumferential runway or channel, of a mail scoop or receptacle adapted to be disposed within the shield, and formed with a longitudinal depression or groove, the bottom of which lies in one unbroken plane, and a depending, elbowed arm secured to said scoop, said arm, above the elbow thereof, being disposed in said depression or groove of the scoop, whereby, when the scoop is inserted in the shield, the elbow lockingly engages said circumferential runway and said arm is compressed to cause it to lie flatly against the bottom of said depression or groove throughout the extent of said bottom.

' In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS BUSH GRAY.

WVitnesses:

T. N. MCBRIDE, W. H. MCBRIDE. 

